Anna Deavere Smith to be Honored With 2022 Louis Auchincloss Prize by the Museum of the City of New York
Anna Deavere Smith is an award-winning playwright and actress who is credited with having created a new form of theater.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Nov. 07, 2022
On November 14, 2022, the Museum of the City of New York will present its 2022 Louis Auchincloss Prize to Anna Deavere Smith, actor, playwright, author, and professor, for her contributions to the cultural and performing arts landscape in New York City and beyond. The evening will include cocktails as well as an awards presentation by Glenn D. Lowry, The David Rockefeller Director of The Museum of Modern Art, and an insightful conversation with Kate D. Levin, Arts Program Lead, Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Anna Deavere Smith is an award-winning playwright and actress who is credited with having created a new form of theater. Written in that innovative form, the plays focus on contemporary issues from multiple points of view and composed of excerpts of hundreds of interviews. As well, her acting work has made an indelible impression with memorable roles in notable films and shows including Philadelphia, The West Wing, The American President, Rachel Getting Married, Black-ish and Inventing Anna. At NYU's Tisch School, she a full Professor in the Department of Art and Public Policy.
"Anna is a polymath whose impactful work encompasses precisely what the Louis Auchincloss Prize seeks to salute each year," says Whitney Donhauser, the Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. "We're thrilled to honor her talent and legacy."
"New York is my home and the fertile ground in which the seeds of many of my creative projects have been grown," says Anna Deavere Smith. "I'm thrilled and sincerely moved to be receiving this prestigious award and to be honored by the Museum of the City of New York."
The Louis Auchincloss Prize is presented to writers and artists whose work is inspired by and enhances the five boroughs of New York City. Disciplines include literature, architecture, art, music, playwriting, and photography. The Prize honors Louis Auchincloss (1917-2010) for his many years of service to the Museum of the City of New York, as well as his literary contributions which established him as one of America's leading 20th- and 21st-century novelists. Past Louis Auchincloss Prize honorees include Faith Ringgold, Robert Stern, Jason Robert Brown, Whoopi Goldberg, Gloria Steinem, Michiko Kakutani, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis, Toshiko Mori, and Philip Glass. For more information about the event, please click here.
Event details:
What: Louis Auchincloss Prize Presentation
When: Monday, November 14, 2022, 6:00pm
Where: In person, Museum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street)
Tickets: Start at $100; https://www.mcny.org/event/2022-louis-auchincloss-prize
Honoree: Anna Deavere Smith, actor, playwright, author, and professor
Chair: Elizabeth Graziolo, trustee and chairman, Louis Auchincloss Prize
Award presented by: Glenn D. Lowry, The David Rockefeller Director, MoMA
Conversation with: Kate D. Levin, Arts Program Lead, Bloomberg Philanthropies
About the Honoree
Anna Deavere Smith's plays and subsequent films include Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles, Let Me Down Easy, and Notes from the Field. President Obama awarded Smith the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. She's the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, several Obie awards, a Drama Desk award, and the George Polk Career Award in Journalism and the Dean's Medal from Stanford University School of Medicine. She was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and was nominated for two Tony Awards. She has several honorary doctorate degrees including those from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Spelman College, Prairie View University, Juilliard, and Oxford.
About the Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world's most influential metropolis. Winner of "Best Museum" in Time Out New York's "Best of the City 2021" and multiple American Alliance of Museums (AAM) awards, MCNY engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city's past, present, and future. To connect with the Museum's award-winning digital content, visit www.mcny.org; or follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @MuseumofCityNY and on Facebook at Facebook.com/MuseumofCityNY.
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